


Welcome to Everything

by jessalae



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-23
Updated: 2012-05-23
Packaged: 2017-11-05 21:57:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/411432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessalae/pseuds/jessalae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>She shrugs. "We do a lot of running, where I'm from."</em> A fluffy little AU written after A Good Man Goes to War.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to Everything

**Author's Note:**

> The one-big-happy-time-travelling-family moments in the first half of A Good Man Goes to War gave me serious warm fuzzies, so... I decided to ignore the rest of the episode temporarily and write some fluffy AU gen! A series of drabbles about the childhood of Melody Pond, the luckiest girl in all the universe. Originally posted on my Dreamwidth June 6, 2011.

Rory wants to put the cot in their bedroom, but Amy seems hesitant -- she gets awfully cross without a good night's sleep. When they get to their room, though, the problem seems to have been solved for them. Next to their bed there's a door that was never there before, leading to a small adjoining bedroom with deep blue walls and a perfect scale map of the Milky Way galaxy on the ceiling.

"It's perfect," Amy says. Melody gurgles happily at her.

"And when she gets bigger," the Doctor says from the doorway, "We can get her bunk beds!"

***

_gurgle_

"That? That's the Atom Accelerator. It changes which direction we go."

_babble_

"Yes, up and down, and also sideways, and forwards, backwards... in time _and_ space, naturally. You'll get the hang of it, but you should probably focus on walking, first."

_whimper_

"I know, and you're doing very well for your age. Here, back to the console. The one with all the pretty flashy lights is the Vector Tracker. That one there's the Gravitic Anomaliser, and under there's the Vortex Loop Control."

_burble_

"What? No, I'm not making the names up as I go along! Don't be absurd, Pond."

***

She's three and a half years old, and the wardrobe is the best room _ever_. There are dresses in there, and shoes, and scarves, and a jeweled tiara that slips down over her eyes as she wanders through the winding rows of clothing. The racks all dip towards the floor as she approaches, putting outfits from every era and every galaxy within easy reach of her curious fingers. 

She emerges wearing a tutu, a man's pinstriped suit jacket, and a fez. Her father rolls his eyes, and her mother sighs in apparent despair, but she thinks she looks pretty cool.

***

"Excuse me? Mister Galileo?"

He turns, startled. There's a little girl standing behind him with a determined expression on her face and a thick book clutched to her chest.

"How did you get in here?" he asks, bewildered.

"I was wondering if you could explain your principle of invariance," she says, offering him the book. "The Doctor says it's best to go straight to the source if I have questions."

He glances out the window, smiling when he catches sight of the blue box sitting in the shadows outside.

"Does he, now," he says. "What would you like to know?"

***

Rule number one is Don't Wander Off. Don't wander off to explore deeper into the forest, don't wander off because there was something moving under the stairwell, and definitely don't wander off in the interstellar marketplace on Andromeda 6.

Melody forgets this last one, once -- she stops to look at something sparkly, and in that second her parents disappear. Her heart sinks, but she blinks back her tears. Moments later, her mother is rushing back into the stall, scooping her up and holding her close.

Rule number two is If You Do Wander Off, Don't Worry -- We'll Find You.

***

Melody is sitting in the weed-choked grass of her mother's old front garden, bored, when a boy appears at the garden gate. "Hey," he says.

"Hey."

"Do you live here?"

She shakes her head. "No, I'm just visiting."

"Oh." He scuffs a foot on the pavement, then grins. "Race you to the end of the street?"

He's off almost before she nods, but she's hot on his heels, and passes him easily before they reach the corner. He skids to a stop, panting.

"You're really fast," he says.

She shrugs. "We do a lot of running, where I'm from."

***

"Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Melody glares at her father. She's nine years old, and fiercely proud.

"I'm only asking," Rory soothes. "The ship can be a bit... temperamental."

"Melody will do fine," the Doctor says. "She and the TARDIS get along quite well."

"Right," Amy says. Her death grip on the railing doesn't relax.

Melody steps up to the console, runs a shaking hand over it. Then she pushes a button and flips two levers in quick succession. The TARDIS jolts. Melody laughs, delighted, and they're off, the whole family spinning together through space and time.


End file.
